CLASSIFIED NOTES 511 



WEDGETAILED-GULL [lU,u<l<,fl-t]<ia ?v', (MacGillivray). Ross's gull, rosybreasted-gull, 

 cuneatetailed-gull. Italian. </alii>i<i ///// <!<! I!< is*]. 



1. Description. 1 Hstinguished at all ages by its cuneate tail, the central pair, even in the 

 youngest fully-Hedged example, being more than halt an inch longer than the next pair. 

 Length i:> in. [331 mm.]. In the adult in summer plumage the head and the whole of the 

 under parts are pure white, the latter suftused with pink ; back and wings light grey ; first primary 

 with the outer web black; rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail rosy white; neck surrounded by 

 a narrow ring of black feathers; bill black ; ring round the eye vermilion; legs, feet and their 

 wol's bright red. The adult in winter is similar to the above, but the black collar is absent 

 and the rose bloom is wanting. The young bird has the head white, the eye surrounded with 

 black, a black spot on the ear-coverts, and the wing-coverts black ; quills black on the outer 

 web, white on the inner two-thirds; inner primaries white, tipped with black; tail white, with a 

 broad black band at the extremity, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. This is also an Arctic species, which will probably be found breeding at 

 many points in the Arctic coasts of the Old and probably also of the New World, but at present 

 the only known breeding-place is that discovered by Buturlin at Podhodskoe in the Kolyma 

 delta in N.E. Siberia in 1905. One specimen has been recorded from England on somewhat 

 doubtful authority (Yorkshire 184(5-47), but it has been recorded from the Faroes and Heligo- 

 land as a casual, and once from Cagliari (Sardinia). [F. c. n. J.] 



BONAPARTE'S GULL [LAru* pi, ila<lelj>hia (Ord)]. 



1. Description. In summer plumage may be distinguished from L. mclanoccphalus, the 

 Mediterranean blackheaded-gull, by having the bill as well as the hood black, differing 

 otherwise only in having the inner primaries widely banded with black at the tip as well 

 as by its slightly larger size. Length 14 in. [355 mm.]. Iris dark brown. Adult in winter 

 similar, but the head is white, mottled and streaked with greyish brown. The young bird 

 resembles the adult in winter plumage, but the back and scapulars are reddish brown fringed 

 with buff: the outer webs of the first three flight-feathers are black; there is a broad band of 

 black across the end of the tail, and there is a black patch on the ear-coverts, [w. p. P. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. A North American species, which breeds in the wooded lake districts of 

 that continent from Alaska and North Mackenzie south to British Columbia and South Kee- 

 watin. In winter its range extends south to Florida, Texas, and Yucatan on the east side, and 

 on the west side to Lower California and Mexico. As a casual it has occurred in Bermuda and 

 the Bahamas, and in Europe once on Heligoland and six times in the British Isles. [F. c. R. J.] 



MEDITERRANEAN BLACKHEADED-GULL [Ldrus melanocephaliis Temminck ; Lams 

 m&mooiphaku Natterer. Adriatic Gull. French, goeland a tete noire; German, 

 schtoarzkdpfige More ; Italian, gabbiano coralline]. 



1. Description. In summer plumage may be distinguished from the common black- 

 headed-gull by having the hood deep black instead of dark brown. Length 15 in. [381 mm.]. 

 The whole of the head is of a deep velvety black, excepting a small crescentic patch of white 

 feathers above and below the eye ; back of the neck, rump, upper tail-coverts, and under surface 

 of body, including the axillaries and under surface of the wings, pure white ; mantle and wing- 

 coverts pearly grey ; primary flight-feathers silvery grey, with the shafts white ; outer primaries 

 fringed with black on the outer web ; bill coral red ; legs and feet red. After the autumn 

 moult the head is white, streaked with black. The young bird is similar to the adult in winter, 

 but the wing-coverts are streaked and mottled with brown ; the primaries are blackish brown 

 on the outer web, and white or greyish white on the inner web, and the tail is widely banded 

 with black at the extremity, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



